Perkins wins OK for blue makeover in Collierville

January 27, 2014 — As Perkins Restaurant officials appeared before the Collierville BMA to see if their Prince Edward Isle Blue would meet their approval, the town already sports buildings clad in various shades of blue including (clockwise from top left) the bright blue awnings at the Goodwill on Poplar, more awnings and trim at the IHOP, teal blue and pink trim at the Malco Theater, and the blue roof at the former CK’s Coffee Shop on Poplar. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Town staffers left the meeting of the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen feeling the "blues" Monday night.

The board's 3-3 vote Monday night means Perkins Restaurant & Bakery on Poplar can paint an eight-inch stripe of Prince Edward Isle blue on its sign border and in its awnings.

The board failed to overturn the Design Review Commission's 4-3 decision which had narrowly given the restaurant the green light on blue.

The town's planning staff filed the appeal to the board because they maintained that the color was "inconsistent with the town's guidelines."

Alderman Jimmy Lott proved to be the swing vote. Normally, he favors the town's administration on many issues. Lott sided with the two aldermen who are often in the minority: Billy Patton and Tom Allen.

Lott noted that Saint Francis Urgent Care sign and building on Poplar had faded to a bluish purple. He wants a clear policy: "I would like to get something up so that every time we don't have to go around the world on what kind of blue we are going to use."

Mayor Stan Joyner and Aldermen Maureen Fraser and John Worley sought to nix the DRC's decision for failing to follow the town's muted earth tone guidelines.

"I looked at the vote. I would say we had some green commissioners," said Fraser, referring to those who were voting for the first time at the DRC. "I cannot support the blue."

But Allen, who sits on the DRC, argued, "This is not some wild color."

Still, Worley pointed out that no other businesses in the shopping center where Perkins is located has blue in its signage.

But Patton maintained Malco Theatre just repainted its frontage and used blue last spring.

Before the vote, Perkins senior counsel Laurie Golden said the town's guidelines "limits the type of color but does not specifically limit the number of colors. We respectfully ask that the board apply the standards consistently in a non-arbitrary manner."

This is not the first time the town officials have clashed over the color blue.

"Color has been the issue most appealed to the DRC since 2011, with shades of blue being the most disputed franchise color," the planning staff said in a recent report. In most cases, the staff gently pushes businesses toward a darker blue that meets the town's aesthetics.

Design guidelines are relatively new for Collierville, with the first appearing in 1994. Over the years, those guidelines shifted. The biggest change came two and half years ago when the Board of Mayor and Aldermen overhauled the guidelines in May 2011.

After the vote, Town Administrator James Lewellen said the staff will go back and make the guidelines clearer. He claimed that Perkins officials "are using some of the (town's) mistakes of the past as a justification for their color. That's what we are trying to get away from."

As Perkins officials left Town Hall, Golden merely pointed out the obvious: "We won."